The Baroque Chapel of the Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy

The Baroque Chapel of the Mykola Lysenko LNMA has been founded by conductor Liudmyla Kapustina known in Ukraine and beyond as the head of the vocal ensemble ‘A Cappella Leopolis’. Since its inception in 2015, the members of the choir have been mastering the basics of the historical manner of singing under Liudmyla Kapustina’s expert guidance, as well as improving their artistic skills under the auspices of Prof. Marek Toporowski, Tetyana Polt-Lutsenko and Angelika Moths. The ensemble’s repertoire covers a considerable time period – from 15th-century madrigals, 17th-century cantatas and oratorios, to the choral concerts of D.Bortniansky and M.Berezovsky. Immersion in the music of past epochs also has given a totally unexpected impetus to experimental creativity, including the combination of Ukrainian sacred music with dance story action dedicated to Easter entitled “The three days for the sake of everyone”.

The essential feature that distinguishes the Baroque Chapel is it practice of studying 17th-18th-century treatises devoted to the basics of Baroque music performing (such as major articulatory means; musical rhetorical figures; ornamentation; applique; and temperament) as well as acquaintance with the works of 17th-18th-century composers. The programmes are primarily aimed at music which is unknown to the wide range of listeners. For example, the Chapel has premiered C.Graun’s Oratorium “The Death of Jesus”, A.Bononcini’s “Stabat Mater”, the programme “The Music of the Swiss Baroque, Motets and Concerto grosso Gletle and Albicastro”, Concerto grosso E. Dall’Abaco, Ch. Avison and other authors in Ukraine.